


Can't Stop Fate

by Zippit



Category: FlashForward
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 21:38:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zippit/pseuds/Zippit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new beginning or a disastrous end, he's not sure which yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Stop Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Roxie Ann (pluvial_poetry)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pluvial_poetry/gifts).



> Thanks to Catw00man for the beta. All other errors are mine.

As he sits here waiting for the plane home, all Mark can think about is if today showed anything it's that the future can be changed. He no longer works for the FBI so the image of him loaded and hiding out from people trying to kill him won't come true. Nothing will happen like they saw. _Nothing_.

Al died to prove a point. His career's toast and the only thing he can think about is he and Olivia will be saved. Their marriage is intact and nothing they've seen will come true. She won't sleep with Lloyd Simcoe and he won't end up drinking. Al proved his point and he helped further it along by tanking his career. The one good thing about this whole screwed up trip to Hong Kong is they know more about Dem's murder than before. If he ends his career doing that and nothing else, he'll be happy.

He'll find another job or maybe he'll stay home with Charlie. He's missed too many days in her life already and Olivia makes more than enough for them to do that. Not like the FBI paid much anyway. He slides further down in the airport chair to get more comfortable. He should sleep. Dem's halfway passed out already and he should follow suit. Jetlag's killed them the past few days and it's not like they allowed themselves to get adjusted to the time difference. No, they came here to do a job with no time for anything else.

It's a job he's not even sure will be there when they get back. Simcoe's taken the blame for the Blackout, citing his experiment and that about ends the government funding for MOSIAC right there. Wedeck must be thrilled. Whatever rabbit he pulled has just lost any and all significance unless something's found to prove that whatever giant experiment Simcoe pulled didn't cause the Blackout.

Mark sighs and relaxes back into the hard backed chair as best he can. It's going to be hell to get home and explain to Olivia why he had to turn in his badge. They've just gotten back on track. He's not sure how she'll react. She believes in fighting for their marriage but he doubts that means throwing everything in his life away to make sure certain things don't happen.

There's a kernel of doubt where he asks himself maybe this is all part of how things end up. In his flash forward all he knows is that he's in his office staring at the MOSIAC board, drinking then hiding from assassins. It was two minutes and seventeen seconds. He knew nothing more than what he was experiencing. It's why the whole world wants answers no one can give.

But Mark doesn't see how he can be reinstated. He nearly caused a diplomatic incident and Wedeck is far from being in a forgiving mood. At least this way, he won't end up shooting Dem. He doesn't see how he could shoot him but he won't examine that too closely. It's enough he's changed the course of their future. It's no longer a possibility.

Just as a career in anything related to government is no longer in his future. It doesn't exactly look good to have "suspended from FBI" on your resume. He doubts Wedeck would even want to give him a glowing recommendation which is practically a requirement nowadays in the tough economic times. Though that's been far from on everyone's minds with the Blackout.

He has no idea what he'll do. He went into the FBI right out of college and then he needed to keep working to support Olivia through her medical degree. It's all he's known for the better part of a decade. Anything else chafes against his skin. The world looks wrong when he tries to think of something else to be. It's like how he felt when he battled his drinking. The only thing that kept him going was Olivia. His need to hang onto her and their marriage was the one thing that got him through to the other side of his addiction.

He hadn't touched a drop in years and when they decided to have Charlie. She made their world lopsided and inside out. It took them a while to adjust to her but they wouldn't have changed it. She's theirs and they wouldn't be who they are without her. They still haven't pushed her on what she saw. He's been too caught up in MOSAIC. When he gets back, he's going to make it a point to make sure she's fine. They haven't had any other issues from school but it's time they talked about it.

He needs to let her know that what she saw isn't going to happen, it won't _ever_ happen, and it's ok for her to tell him what it was about. It was only a dream and dreams never come true. It's not exactly a lie but it's as close to the truth as she needs right now. That works for him.

Just like more vacations with Olivia works too. They should take more of those. Just the two of them, no worries, no cares. Maybe they can even swing a trip to Disney World now that he isn't tied up with the FBI. Hell, they can take as many vacations as Olivia can work into her schedule. He won't be bogged down by not having enough days off. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Now he even has the time to find something to do that doesn't involve hunting down criminals and being frustrated more times than not when things don't go according to plan. It's part and parcel of the job but since he doesn't have it anymore he can find something more productive to do.

Who is he kidding? He can sugarcoat it all he wants but being an FBI agent is part of who he is. It's going to be hell redefining himself. He wants to stop thinking but that's not happening unless he passes out. This is going to be one long flight home.


End file.
